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Updated: Aug 14, 2026

Oral Health Assessment by Lay Personnel for Older Adults
Published on: February 2, 2020
Abstract:
In October 1955 I arrived here in Dohnavur, India, as a young, reluctant dental missionary! My first hurdle was to learn the language--Tamil--said to be one of the most difficult languages in the world. For the first year I was given one hour 'off' language study to do dentistry. In that hour I began to see our large family, which then numbered about 900. In the second year, still in a room with only the dental chair and a foot engine for temporary use, I spent half the time in dentistry and continued to learn Tamil the rest of the time. The dental surgery was built, and the equipment that I had brought with me from UK had been installed, and on December 17, 1957, we had the dedication of the dental surgery and I had the joy of having my parents with me from the UK for that special day.
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